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Pink Banana Theatre’s Quest For $5,000

As the dust begins to clear on one of the slowest parts of the theatre season this side of December, the big finale of the August-July Theatre year is just around the corner. (Two shows open next week. The 2009-2010 theatre year ends as Boulevard Theatre opens its 2010-2011 season with Fourplay at the end of the month. This is a hazy point in the theatre year. One month after Boulevard opens its new season, the Off The Wall Theatre closes its 2009-2010 season by opening a production of Psycho Beach Party. There’s no universal accounting for the calendar with local theatre companies . . .)

There are already nearly 100 shows listed for the upcoming 2010-2011 Milwaukee theatre season. As I busy myself trying to work out how the Shepherd is going to cover things in the coming season, there are still a couple of companies who haven’t announced any shows for the 2010-2011 theatre season. Generally, these are smaller, newer companies that operate on an off-schedule—new ones like Youngblood and Bite. There is one smaller company that has announced plans for a show for the upcoming theatre year: Pink Banana. The group has announced its plans to stage a production of Stephen Belber’s Tape.

Set entirely in a motel room, the play has a really visceral quality to it that would really benefit from the kind of intimate production that Pink Banana has rendered in the past. The banana has yet to announce a venue or a date for its production.

Pink Banana has, however, announced a request for donations. A couple of weeks back, a mass email was sent out. Under the subject heading “Please read. The banana needs YOU,” the company announced its next season’s goal of raising $5,000. Raising money for small-scale theatre may seem a bit optimistic in the current economy, but local theatre celebrity Jonathan West recently managed to raise some $3,815 for a production of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries slated to hit the Sunset Playhouse’s Studio theatre this December. West raised the money through selling tickets for the production. He only needed $2,000. Pink Banana’s $5,000 goal is a little bit more ambitious, but it’s be nice to see them have another couple of shows on the upcoming season.